Cat in the TARDIS
by Sherlock-in-the-TARDIS
Summary: She just bumped into something, well... something that would change her life. But for better or for worse?
1. Bump

The wind that blew Catherine's chestnut brown hair back was far chillier than she expected. In response, she pulled her hood over her head, wishing she would sink back into her winter parka. She had walked the sidewalk hundreds of times before, she could pace it with her eyes closed. There was never an object in the middle of the sidewalk, if there had been she would have veered around it like she did with every branch or stray tree. She was shocked by the very solid, very real wood blocking her path. Looking up, she saw the tall blue box in her way. Right where it hadn't been that morning and countless times before. Catherine's brow wrinkled in confusion and, acting on pure impulse, she wrapped her knuckles against the door. After multiple attempts with no result, she reached for the oddly warm metal handle and - finding it unlocked - slowly pulled the door open. Catherine gave a little gasp and her hand dropped to her side.

Slowly stepping inside, Catherine felt a mix of fear and curiosity. There was no sign of anything human inside of the box. It was at least ten times larger, brighter, and warmer. There were four staircase leading away from an elevated area, containing a console. Two lead upward, curving, the two others lead straight downwards, leading to the area underneath. The elevated main area held a console that was covered in odd lights, buttons levers, and odds and ends from what seemed like completely different eras. Slipping off her winter coat, she slowly walked up the glass ramp leading to the main area, looking around in awe as she went. Her fingers brushed against the console, trailing over the controls. Her grip tightened on a red lever, and she was about to pull it downwards when she heard the door slam shut behind her. She spun around to see a lanky man who looked as if he had been frozen halfway through a big dramatic sweeping motion. The man turned in a circle three times, seemingly wondering if he had walked into the wrong random blue box, before stopping to look at Catherine.

Well, he looked at her for all of a half a second before dashing up the ramp and stopping right in front of her, his reddish bowtie level with her chin. His green eyes scrutinized her and, from this short of a distance Catherine had to admit it, he was rather attractive. He narrowed his eyes for a second before spinning around and pulling on the lever Catherine was about to before he came in.

"So! Who are you?" He didn't seem at all phased by the appearance of a teenage girl in his… bigger on the inside spaceship.

"Uh...Catherine?" On the other hand, Catherine was confused, scared, and slightly irritated.

Catherine! Wonderful name! All …" he threw his hands up into the air, spinning to face her "exciting. So, 'C' or 'K'?"

"C…" Catherine raised a suspicious eyebrow, this was a bit too much for a cold winter's afternoon.

"Ah! Like the furry little animals!" the man inspected her again "So, Catherine with a 'C'… Little kitty cat, how did you get in?"

"The door was unlocked so I walked in…like you did… except I didn't do the little rain dance afterwards" The man grinned and ran around the console to the other side, looking at Catherine through the warped glass in the middle.

"I like you!"

"Okay… and you are?" Cat desperately wanted to head for the door, but something held her in place. She didn't know why, but she felt an odd sort of trust for the man who still refused to disclose his name.

"The Doctor, and you're about to have the time of your life!" he said, grin never faltering. And Catherine couldn't stop a smile from playing on her lips as well.


	2. Alchizar

It was beautiful, stretching for ever and ever, a never ending black canvas painted with stars and galaxies. Catherine sat on the TARDIS floor, legs hanging out the open doorway. The doors themselves were kind of hanging in open space, the Doctor had pushed them open, mumbling something about how she overreacted about the simplest little things like which way her doors opened. He had explained everything to Catherine (Now graced with the nickname "Cat") and, when she doubted him, took her to what he called the Medusa Cascade. The Doctor plopped down next to Cat, making her jump.

"Believe me now?" he asked with a smile.

"How can I _not?_" she laughed, never taking her eyes off the scene before her.

"Good! So, now that we've got that over with," he said, jumping up "pull in your legs." Cat did as she was told just before the doors shut in her face.

"What?" she asked, looking up at the Doctor who had run to the console.

"Things to do, Planets to see, we can't just sit around and stare at the Medusa Cascade all day!" the Doctor yanked down on two red levers.

"Why not?" Cat asked, standing up

"Because there are times to visit! Adventures to have!" the Doctor played with a few more controls as Cat walked up next to him. "Forward or back?"

"What?"

"In time!"

"Oh ,um…" Cat bit her lip, deep in thought, "forward." The Doctor grinned and spun a device that looked like it belonged in a ping pong machine.

"Forward it is then! Now let's see…" The doctor said, pulling the view screen in front of him "Which planet….Poosch? No, too dull…. Raxacoricofallapatorius? No… ah! Yes! I know!" Cat looked at the Doctor, eyebrows raised. "Alchizar!"

"What?" Cat asked, the Doctor looked at her with a grin

"Remember when you told me that if you had a time machine you'd skip all the seasons but fall?"

"You mean when I still didn't believe that this was a spaceship/time machine?"

"Yes!"

"You mean like… five minutes ago?"

"Yes!" The Doctor said with a smile,

"Then yes"

"Perfect! Alchizar is the one planet where it's perpetually fall!"

"Really?" Catherine asked, smiling

"Really!" The Doctor grinned and yanked down on a lever attached to a semi- circle, causing the TARDIS to jerk this way and that. Cat stumbled back onto a railing as the doctor yelled something that only after trying to remember what he had said many times afterwards would she realize was one word.

"GERONIMO!"


	3. Ood

Cat stepped out of the TARDIS, wearing a t-shirt and jeans, before cursing under her breath and ducking back inside.

"Like a perpetual autumn!" The Doctor yelled, starting to run down the ramp.

"Are you sure?" Cat asked, stepping aside for the doctor to look outside. The doctor stuck his head out the door.

"Oh…" He came back in the TARDIS, walked back to the view screen and checked it. "This isn't Alchizar..."

"No!" Cat faked a shocked expression "I was so convinced!" The Doctor smirked.

"Well, let's explore then, since you were so convinced" Cat made a sour face and grabbed her parka off of the yellow chair. The Doctor was already outside by the time she got to the door. Cat steeped out of the TARDIS and on to freshly fallen snow. She glanced at the Doctor, who was smiling at something in front of them, and followed his gaze. Cat gasped, standing not so far away from the TARDIS was an alien. It had large, pinkish eyes, a bulbous head, tannish pink skin and odd tentacles over where its mouth would have been. Cat stepped back, pressing against the TARDIS door.

"Doctor.." her eyes were wide "what is that?"

"It's an ood! I love Oods! Hi!" the Doctor waved. "Haven't seen a free Ood since.." He drifted off, eyes turning sad. After a moment he perked up again, rubbing his hands together . "Well, not for a while"

"Doctor?" Cat took a slow step forward"

"Right, first alien… Well, first not me alien. Don't worry, Ood are perfectly friendly"

"You sure?

"I sure"

"Doctor," it was the first time the Ood had spoken, "we need your help."

The Doctor perked up at that, a smile creeping across his face.

"Brilliant"


	4. Who Else?

**A/N: I know you're there, I can see you. I get emails telling me you're following this story. But why don't you review? (And I shant ignore the two who have. THANK YOU)Show yourselves followers! And please review!**

The three of them walked down the snowy hill, maneuvering piles of rocks. The Doctor, Cat, and the Ood. Every once and a while Cat would sneak a glance at the Ood that walked between her and the Doctor. No matter how many times the afore mentioned Time Lord told her that it was a nice alien, the Ood still freaked Cat out a bit. Especially the moment when she realized that the thing in its hand was a _brain_. She forgot that though, when the city came into view. It was a beautiful and impossible city. But by now Cat had learned to doubt the mere existence of impossible. The city was made of ice, snow, and rock, spires an pinnacles of cold cement. Cat had stopped, eyes wide. The Doctor stopped as well, looking back at her. Knowing in the deep recesses of her mind that the Doctor was watching her Cat whispered two words'

"It's incredible…"

The Doctor smiled and took the few steps to stand next to mer. The alien reached out his hand, an offering. Cat blinked out of her awe and looked at the Doctor's outstretched hand and smiled, taking it. She looked up and he smiled reassuringly. Cat took a deep breath and squeezed his hand before they started down the hill once again.

It didn't take long for Cat to notice the ships; they were so out of place next to the buildings of ice. They were black, a solid, unwavering, almost intimidating black only broken by the words "Starfleet 16" written in white on the side of each, followed by the ships number.

"Oh," the Doctor mumbled the moment Cat saw them, he must have seen them too because his expression was one of anger and disappointment. His expression sent a shiver down her spine; it wasn't one that anyone in the whole of the universe would want to see.

"What?" Cat asked, hoping it wasn't something too horrendously horrible. In the few seconds it took him to answer thousands of possibilities ran though her head. Was it man eating walking fish? Well, maybe if that weren't so ridiculous. Some gross grey things that were two were human-sized, although much bulkier, with noses above their eyebrows? Maybe if that wasn't from a book/movie/old T.V. show. But the real answer surprised cat more than any other thing could.

"Oh..." the Doctor sighed and looked down at Cat, "Oh little kitty Cat from the past…Who else? Who other than your people?"


	5. Junior Cadet

Cat stood in front of one of the ships. Hate churning in her stomach. It was hate for the ships, the people in the ships, and most importantly herself. Cat had always felt guilty about things she didn't actually have anything to do with. She didn't really know why, but now all she could think of was how angry she was. After a brief explanation from the Ood, Cat knew that after one thousand years of peace, the humans wanted the planet back. Cat hated humanity for that, which meant Cat also hated herself.

"We'll stop them" the Doctor said from where he stood next to her, "I promise we'll stop them." Cat took a deep breath and looked up at him. That was the moment when she realized that she trusted him. She trusted the Doctor enough to take her to a faraway planet one thousand years in the future and she trusted him to stop her own race. Cat squeezed the Doctor's hand and he smiled before stepping forward. And then stopping in his tracks.

A woman had walked down the ramp of the ship, gun in hand.

"Who are you?" she barked, Cat dropped the Doctors hand subconsciously.

"I'm the Doctor!" The Doctor chirped, unfazed.

"Why are you here? We have been reliably informed that the only humans on this planet in the past thousand years have been the scouts."

"Well we're your scouts!" the Doctor grinned and held out what seemed to be a wallet, which flopped open. "Galactic league scouts!" The woman narrowed her eyes.

"You don't look like scouts…" the woman said, voice filled with suspicion, "Where's her badge?" she jerked her chin at Cat, who's eyes widened.

"I….uh…I…" Cat stuttered, searching her mind for the right words.

"She's a junior Cadet! It's the training program!"

"What training program?"

"It's new…" the Doctor tried to look serious but Cat could see the smile playing at his lips.

"Fine," The woman grumbled, "come with me then." Cat followed obediently and the Doctor smiled at her, holding up a blank piece of paper in a leather wallet as her walked. It took Cat a second to realize that was what he had shown the woman.

"But it's blank!" she said, brow wrinkling.

"Psychic paper!" he responded quietly with a smirk, "shows them whatever I want it to." Cat smiled and took it from him. As it transferred to her hands words formed

**Keep calm and follow my lead**

Cat looked up at the Doctor, mouth opening to ask what he meant but he was already in action.

"So why are we doing this?"

"Shouldn't you know?"

"They never tell scouts anything, they just say," his voice went deep and slightly silly, "go scout." The woman gave him a sidelong glance.

"The population is raising too high on one of our colony planets so the big men up top decided that since we survived here once we can do it again.

"Ah..." the Doctor said as they turned into what seemed to be a conference room. Cat's eyes instantly went to a man in all black, with buzz cut gray hair and cold blue eyes, even looking at him sent a shiver down her spine. He stepped out of a conversation he was having and walked towards them. It took Cat until he was just a stride away to realize he wasn't walking towards them. He was walking towards _her_. The man held out a large hand and smiled in a way that made Cat want to either run or hide.

"Hello. My name is Commander Altitud. And you are?"


	6. Oops

"Hello!" Catherine's veiw of the slightly terrifying man was blocked out by a tweed stepped out from behind the Doctor, keeping her eys on the COmmander warily.

"Who are you?"

"The Doctor! And this is..." the Doctor glanced at Cat before focusing on Commander Altitud again "Cat."

"Cat?"

"It's a code name, like the Doctor"

"A very unusual code name"

"Well, she's a very unusual scout." Cat glared at the Doctor when he said that, but he ignored it if he even noticed.

"The scouts will need a briefing on the situation, Sir. They haven't been told anything" the woman said, stepping forward.

"Very well Tay," The commander said, and the woman- apparently Tay- nodded and stepped back. The commander launched into and explination of the take over, most of which Cat already knew. After a few minutes Cat tuned out the Commander's words, which were replaced by her own thoughts.

"Is this what we become?" Cat thought to herself,"is this how the human race ends up? Greedy and overpopulated? A race so bent on expanding that they have to overcome a totally peaceful civilization? Apparently. I'm ashamed, of my own people. Of my future, it ashames me in some indescribable was that twists my gut with loathing. And I can barely stand it, I want to run from my future. But theres no way I can do that, now is there? I just have to sit through this and hope they fail and that the Ood can keep their planet. And that the humans find one of the millions of inhabitable planets I'm sure are out there in the universe..." and it was only then, as Cat completed her thought process did she realize that she was actually _talking _ it, not thinking it. The silence that filled the room was horribly awkard and Cat cursed at herself mentally (successfully this time) for having issues with actually thinking words. The Doctor broke the silence with a clap and looked at Cat

"Well, we know how people feel now. If you haven't guessed yet...we're not scouts..."


	7. A lot of 'What'

"What did you just say?" Everyone in the room was staring at Cat; she wasn't even sure who had asked that question. Too distracted by the gazes boring into her skin.

"Uhhh..." Cat's mind couldn't form coherent sentences, let alone go through the complicated yet simple task of speaking. Thankfully, the Doctor thought they were talking to him,

"Cat and I aren't exactly scouts. We were visiting…. And we came with the intention of stopping you." With the attention averted, Cat realized that it was in fact Tay who the Doctor was talking to.

"So you lied to me then"

"Well... yes ...But only to protect the Ood!"

"We owned this planet first; it's not our fault that the Ood rebelled."

"No, it's mine." The Doctor's face began to contort with anger, Cat watched apprehensively. Just a tiny bit scared.

"_What?_" Tay's eyes flashed with an angry fire and Cat could feel the tension building in the room. She thought fast and stepped forward,

"I'm from the past, by the way. That's what I meant by the whole 'Is this what we become' thing. Yeah, just in case you wanted to know." She smiled sheepishly and relaxed, her comment seeming to diffuse the tension. Commander Altitud stepped forward, she hadn't realized it before, but Cat realized that he hadn't been reacting to much of anything since she had her little outburst. That was most definitely not good.

"Quiet Tay." He turned to Cat, whose eyes widened "Repeat what you said."  
>"What?"<p>

"You heard me perfectly clearly. Repeat yourself."

"Well… I wasn't really meaning to be talking, just thinking…" The look the commander gave Cat pretty much forced her to continue "I was talking … thinking… whatever… About how I was kind of shocked at how the human race was developing and that I was kinda….you know…ashamed? To be a part of it?" Cat's position looked slightly like a frozen flinch, like a child waiting for scolding from her parent.

"She's right."

"What?" There wasn't really one person who asked, it was just a collective word phrased as a question.

"She's right. The operation is offline."

"Sir. What are you talking about?" The anger was clear in Tay's voice.

"I investigated the origins of the Ood rebellion before we started this mission, just to find what we were dealing with. It took me a long time to find anything other than 'The Ood randomly revolted and then became peaceful.' But when I did, it was very eye opening. It was just a random website, possibly some activist trying to make the Ood seem peaceful. But there were in fact a lot of things like it once I dug deep enough. I was starting to doubt this take over. Her doubts have made it certain in my mind that this is wrong."

"But Commander-"

"Lieutenant. I may have served many years with you. But I am still your commander. My word is law here. We will discuss this only when we return to the HQ" Commander Altitud's eyes were steely and Tay stepped back grumpily. He turned to Cat and the Doctor, "You can return to your ship and leave now" The two time travelers exchanged one glance, nodded, and left the ship in a fashion that closely resembled running.


	8. Friends

The Doctor and Cat watched the ships rise into the air and fly off. Then they just stared at the sky.

"You were phenomenal, by the way." The Doctor looked over at Cat, who looked at the ground.

"I didn't exactly _mean _to be…I mean, I was kind of supposed to just be thinking that"

"Well, still." The Doctor smiled and, after a minute, so did Cat.

The two of them took their time getting back to the TARDIS, every once and a while scrambling up a pile of rocks. By the time Cat walked through the blue doors she was slightly winded, but the Doctor ran up to the console. Cat sighed and walked up the ramp, and sat on the bottom step of one of the many staircases. Leaning against the light post thing, Cat sighed,

"You're my best friend you know..." The Doctor froze, then he turned around opening his mouth to speak "Yea, I know, I know. We've only just become friends." The Doctor smiled a little,

"New friends, not best friends just yet"

"Well… Both… See, I didn't really have any friends back home. And you're my friend..."

"Yea..." The Doctor said, brow furrowing

"And your best friend is the person who is best a being your friend, or the friend who you're closest with…" Cat stared at her lap sheepishly. The Doctor walked up to her and took her by the shoulders, pulling her into a standing position.

"Catherine. I have a very important question to ask you" Cat looked up at the Doctor,

"Yea?"

"What are your thoughts on bunk beds?" Cat dissolved into laughter and the Doctor just looked at her, thoroughly confused.

"What?" Cat asked during a pause in her laughing

"Bunk beds!"

"Bunk beds?'

"What?"

"Nothing just…._Bunk beds?_" Cat had mostly recovered, only bursting into a spout of giggles every time she said 'bunk beds'.

"Yea. For your room."

"My room?"

"Yes, where were you expecting to sleep?"

"Sleep?"

"Well..." The Doctor looked down, "You were going to stay… weren't you?"

"Of course I was!" Cat laughed and pushed the Doctor's shoulder "I just wasn't thinking about that type of stuff." The Doctor broke into a grin,

"So, bunk beds?"

"But it'll be just me…"

"And?"

"I won't need a second bed"

"_And?_" Cat laughed,

"Alright then, Bunk beds" The Doctor smiled at her acceptance to the useless extra bed and stepped over to the control panel. Typing into a type writer, playing with buttons, and pulling a lever or two.

"Your new room. With bunk beds. Is ready!" The Doctor said, pointing up the stairs.

"Well, it's just a pity I'm not tired." The Doctor and cat grinned at the same time "Where to?"

"That's my secret"

Cat laughed and held on as the TARDIS began to jerk around, beginning another flight to anywhere.


	9. Fixing things

Cat ran down the stairs into the control room. Finding it empty, she frowned.

"Is that you Cat?" The Doctor's voice drifted from below her feet. Looking down, Cat saw the Doctor playing with some wires, hanging in a seat hammock type thing. Walking over to the stairs leading beneath the main level, Cat sat on the first step leading down.

"So, what are you doing?"

"Remember the Ood?"

"You mean the first aliens I've ever se-"

"Second" The Doctor interrupted, Cat rolled her eyes.

"Fine, second aliens I've ever seen, on a distant planet, with future humans, who had guns, and the same aliens that had weird tentacle things? That happened yesterday? Yea, I remember"

"We weren't exactly supposed to go there…"

"I remember that too." Cat couldn't see the Doctor smile, but she could hear it in his voice,

"So I'm trying to fix whatever went wrong."

"Maybe you just messed up?"

"No! Of course I didn't! I always end up where I want!"

"So you _wanted _ to take a visit to Oodville?"

"No… But I'm fixing that now." The Doctor mumbled, leading Cat to laugh.

"So, where do you want to go next?" Cat heard a thump, the Doctor had jumped off his chair. Swining around the corner, he stopped at the bottom of the stairs,

"Wherever, you, like."

"I bet you say that to every girl you take to see all of time and space" Cat laughed as the Doctor walked up the stairs and pulled her up into a standing position. They both walked over the console, the Doctor to do his thing, Cat to sit on the leather couch. The TARDIS jerked into motion, Cat slipping off the edge of the couch, squeaking.

"Sorry!" The Doctor shouted over the sound of the engines revving.A few minutes later, the TARDIS landed and Cat stood up.

"So, where are we?"

"Find out…" The Doctor made a sweeping motioned towards the door and Cat rolled her eyes, walking across the room opening it.

"So we're in the two thousands, in a normal part of the world?" She asked, looking back at the Doctor.

"What?" Running out the door, the Doctor took in his surroundings. After a second or two he pulled Cat out with him,

"Why do I need to be out here?"

"Well… last time this happened it wasn't so good.."

"Okaayyy…"

At that moment a woman came out of a blue house. A woman with firey red hair. Her gaze wandered over to the TARDIS and her face lit up, until her eyes found Cat and the Doctor.

"Oi!" She yelled "Who are you?"


	10. The ever Noble Doctor

"I said. Who. Are. You?" The redhead walked up to the Doctor, looking him in the eye. The Time Lord just stood there, looking very shocked. Looking back and forth between the two, Cat nudged the Doctor.

"Who is this?"

"Donna, Donna Noble…"

"And how do you know my name?" The woman - apparently Donna - seemed just to get angrier and angrier

"I just… I uh…"

"_Where's. The. Doctor?"_ Donna's voice had risen and Cat took half a step back.

"You….you're not supposed to remember…" Flabbergasted, the Doctor stared at Donna for a minute before whipping out his sonic screwdriver. He ran it around Donna before flicking it open and looking at the data it had collected.

"Just because I only met him once I'm not allowed to remember him?" Fuming, Donna had resorted to full on yelling "And what is it with you people and _bleeping _me?" The Doctor's eyes became sharp again,

"Ah….. Is this 2008?"

"Yes."

"Ohhh….Oh oh oh…This makes so much more sense."

"Not to me." Cat spoke up, eyeing Donna nervously.

"Ah, right! Cat. This is Donna Noble, Donna. This is Cat."

"Yea, great. Who are you and where's the Doctor?" Although the Doctor and Cat has relaxed, Donna was still on edge.

"Well… I'm the Docto-"

"No. The Doctor was thin, and taller, and he had bigger hair." Donna narrowed her eyes.

"Oh, the hair.." The Doctor got lost in nostalgia before snapping back to reality, "Yes, I'm him. Different body, same man. It's fairly complicated"

"Tell me then."

"Well Time Lords…we have this way of cheating death…" As the Doctor continued it occurred to Cat that it was her first time she heard about the process of regeneration. She was slightly hurt for a moment, but she dismissed it when she realized she hadn't known the brilliant man as long as it felt she had.

"So… You're him?"  
>"Same man. New face, well new everything" The Doctor's smile faltered for a moment, and he mouthed a word. From Cat's not-so-good lip reading skills she got "Role" which made no sense but she decided to ask about it later.<p>

"No, no. You aren't him. You're some type of imposter. Doctor!" Donna yelled that last word so loudly Cat's ears stung a little bit.

"We met once. Just once, you were temping. It was your wedding day. You got abducted by a robot cabbie and I made you jump into the TARDIS. I bio damped you. Explosive ornaments. Huge red spiders." The Doctor listed off the events effortlessly, and Cat felt like she was hearing a choppy summary of an incredible story.

"It _is _you…" Donna stood there for a moment before wrapping her arms around the Doctor's neck. He then proceeded to laugh like the happiest man in the universe, and make Cat feel very much like a third, Donna stepped back and looked at aforementioned girl slyly,

"So, a house pet?"

"His idea!" Cat announced, pointing at the Doctor. The three of them then erupted into joyous laughter. Leaving Cat to think that Donna might not be all that bad.


	11. Donna

Cat threw her head back in laughter; Donna was retelling the story of how she met the Doctor much better than the Time Lord did. The fiery redhead was far more enjoyable than Cat had expected. The Doctor was looking at Donna oddly though, he looked fairly concerned. But before Cat could ask what was wrong, Donna spoke up.

"So! New TARDIS then." The Doctor nodded, smiling widely and twirling (Something he liked to do a lot). "So, how did she react?" Donna nodded in Cat's direction, and the Doctor frowned slightly.

"I don't know…" The Doctor looked down and Donna raised her eyebrows

"You _don't know? _How can you not know someone's reaction to the TARDIS?"

"I wasn't really here…"

"What?" Donna was looking back and forth between the Doctor and Cat, thoroughly confused.

"I um…well…."

"He left it unlocked" Cat said with a small giggle.

"He left- You left the TARDIS unlocked?" Donna asked, laughing at the Doctor, who shuffled his feet.

"I was in a rush..." But Donna simply shook her head, not being able to speak though her laughter. Cat giggled, but the look the Doctor was giving Donna just wasn't right. It was sad, and lonely. Sighing, Cat walked past the Doctor, taking hold of his arm as she went,

"Excuse us." She said, giving no room for questions or explanation. The Doctor was about of protest until he saw the look on Cat's face. She dragged the Time Lord into the hallway and another room. "What." It wasn't really a question, more of a demand.

"What?" The Doctor asked, smiling. But Cat narrowed her eyes, he was faking.

"Donna." The Doctor's smile faltered ever-so-slightly.

` "What?"

"There's something… something _wrong _with her..."

"Cat! That's rude!" His voice had a playful tone, but Cat knew that he wasn't as clueless as he pretended.

"Not that. The way you look at her… Like you're watching home videos of someone who's dead." At that the Doctor's face fell, giving in. "Just tell me."

"Donna was my friend, ages ago. We went everywhere… But then she... Put simply she became part Time Lord. But her brain was still human. So I had to wipe all the Time Lord from her brain… as well as her memories of me… But this is Donna before then, she didn't come with me at first, so this is that between time…" The Doctor's eyes were sad and tired, by now Cat knew that was where to look. Sighing, Cat hugged the Time Lord.

"Come on, she'll get suspicious." Smiling in what she hoped was a reassuring way, Cat walked back into the main room.

"What was all that?" Donna asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I was scolding him for not telling me about you."

"Hey! I haven't had much time!" The Doctor said, following his friend. The two of them fell into conversation easily. Both wearing masks easily. But both knew now, and neither could forget.


	12. Surprise

Cat waved at Donna as the Doctor went to close the door, smiling faintly. The Doctor insisted that the red head had to leave, but that he would be back for her soon. Cat knew what that meant, a younger version of the Time Lord would come and show Donna the universe. And then be forced to take all the memories away. Pushing the thoughts from her mind, Cat followed the Doctor to the control panel, watching as he played with odds and ends. She had stopped bothering to ask him what he was doing, the answer was always long and complex, yet said as if it were the most simple thing in the universe.

"I say we stop trying to go to Alchizar" she said after a minute or two

"What? Why?" The Doctor looked up in shock

"Because we always end up somewhere else. Maybe if we _try _going somewhere else we'll end up in Alchizar." Cat gave the smallest smile and the Doctor grinned

"Alright then." He slammed the heel of his hand down on a button and the TARDIS jerked violently to the left, Cat gripping onto the control panel at the last second. The blue box flew through the time Vortex, carrying a girl and a Time Lord on their way.

Cat leapt in front of the Doctor, blocking him from the view screen.

"Let's both be surprised for once, you too." She smirked and the Doctor sighed, walking to the doors and turning. Cat let him stand there for a few moments before running to his side.

"We don't know what's out there…" The Doctor said, trying to convince Cat to let him back to the console.

"Nope." She said, blocking his path yet again.

"We could get shot." The Doctor continued persistently, missing Cat's moment of stillness and the pain flashing in her eyes.

"We _could_ get shot.." she said, returning to normal smoothly "but we could also be greeted with gifts." She pushed the Time Lord back and he sighed, turning around and opening the TARDIS doors. Cat slipped out first, earning herself a scolding glance from the Doctor, who followed after anyway. Cat wandered around the TARDIS' corner, and spotted a heavily armed guard.

"Christ" she whispered, "What's with humans and guns?" The Doctor walked behind her and inhaled sharply. Cat felt the Doctor's hand wrap around her wrist and she glanced back at him "What?" she asked, but before he could answer the guard's attention was on them.

"Stop! Americans stop!"

"Americans?" Cat asked the Doctor under her breath as she stepped forward and raised her hands, shaking ever so slightly. The man- guard obviously- shouted for more troops. Cat glanced at the Doctor, who was now standing beside her. The guards conversed quietly, sights and guns trained on the time travelers. All Cat wanted to do was ask the Doctor to explain, but she knew that she could put them in danger by even talking. So she tried to figure something out on her own. The fact that there were humans, and a lack of high technology, kind of screamed earth. It was hot, so somewhere near the equator. By the way the guard called them 'Americans' told Cat that they weren't somewhere U.S. friendly. But she couldn't really figure anything worthwhile out like, say the time period. But it was no use, considering that the soldiers were now in their faces and barking at Cat and the Doctor, ordering them to move. They shuffled along, and Cat couldn't help but be terrified. Here she was with a man she trusted but barely knew, somewhere she didn't know, with a gun centimeters from her back. She continued to shake as she was lead into a dark building with barred cells. There were just the four walls, the bars were the walls of the cells, except for those against a wall, who were lucky enough to have something solid to lean against. Cat's eyes flickered down the row and her mind flashed back to a picture she had seen in a textbook. A picture of a prison in a time of war without violence.

"Cuba." She exhaled the word quietly, and the Doctor spoke for the first time since they left the TARDIS. He nodded and completed the coordinates

"The Cold War"


	13. Blame

**A/N: This is about to get a lot more serious, just a warning.**

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" Cat whispered for what she was sure was the nine hundredth time. "I'm so sorry, this is all my fault. It's really just all my fault" The cold stone wall was pressed up against her back, and she held her head in her hands.

"No…" The Doctor lay his hand on Cat's arm, the touch gentle.

"Yes." Cat lifted her head and wrapped her arms around her legs, which were pulled up to her chest. "I was the one who stopped you from trying Alchizar, I was the one who stopped you from checking where we were, and I was the one who caught the Guard's attention. It's all my fault. Totally and completely"

"No it's not." The Doctor said, voice chiding slightly "I was the one who whisked you away to space."

"I chose it."

"No you didn't."

"Yes, I did. I could have not gone in the TARDIS, or asked you to take me home, but I didn't. I chose it."

"I gave you the universe and I didn't expect you to say no." Cat sighed and ran her fingers through her hair.

"And now we're stuck in the mid to late 1900's, in Cuba."

"Yep."

"So now you're going to figure out how to get us out, right?"

"…"

"Right?" Cat's eyes widened slightly, looking at the Doctor who smiled slyly. Cat giggled when he pulled out the sonic screwdriver "I forgot.." she said.

"I know." He crawled over to the cell's lock and pointed the sonic at it. Before the Time Lord could actually press the button, a hand shot through the bars and gripped the Doctor's wrist.

"What is this?" the guard ripped the screwdriver from the Doctor's grasp, inspecting it.

"It's ah…. Well, it's…" The Doctor rubbed his hand on the back of his head, "Ah….." the guard dismissed the bumbling Timelord and walked out, announcing that it would be taken into custody.

"Well that's just perfect." Cat said sarcastically, watching as the Doctor sat back down next to her. "So, now we have to figure a way out…"

"…"

"Doctor?" Cat put her hands on the ground, crossing her legs. "We can get out, right?"

"I'll figure something out" But Cat felt as if the Time Lord's answer weren't as truthful as he intended it to sound.


	14. Day 3

**A/N:The Doctor is slightly OOC in this chapter, but stuff is…Well you'll see**

Day 3

Cat had woken up with a headache and feeling fairly dirty in general, which made sense about ten seconds later when she remembered that she was in a cell. In Cuba. During the Cold . She then had spent about an hour trying to figure out what time it was, a second trying to convince herself that the entire situation wasn't her fault, and when that didn't work she tried to convince herself that they would get out soon. The Doctor sat there silently, and around the fourth hour Cat remembered her father. So she resorted to spending the rest of the day trying not to tell the Doctor about him. She failed.

"My dad was a police man…" she whispered and the Doctor looked up at her, eyes lighting up slightly.

"Is he?"

"Was" The word was hoarse and strained, and the Doctor shifted almost uncomfortably when he heard it.

"Oh…. I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine… I mean, it's in the job description after all." Even as Cat made the joke she could feel the sob bubbling up under her words, which is why she wasn't surprised when the first tear slipped its way down her cheek. "I just…." Cat drew in a shaky breath "It would have been easier if I weren't there" The Doctor seemed taken aback

"You were with him?"

"I was… I was in his car…" With that, Cat launched into the entire story. About how she had been a little girl, who looked up to her father. How her father had finally caved one day and taken her out in his cruiser. It was just supposed to be a patrol, typical procedure, really just something to keep the troops busy until the real action happened. Then there was a break in at the store they were idling in front of, the criminal ran out and her father had leapt from the car. Cat could still hear him yelling at her not to move, if she really tried. She told the Doctor about the other man's gun, and about how her father hadn't been fast enough. About how the man hadn't even hesitated, and ran the second her father hit the floor. She didn't tell him about how she didn't move from her seat, or how she was crying even after the paramedics came. She didn't tell him that she knew that her father was dead long before the pretty Indian nurse with the dark eyes told her. She didn't tell him that when she was old enough she learned to use a gun, just in case. She didn't tell him any of those things, she only told him what she could before the sobs overtook her body. Cat knew that the Doctor wasn't meaning to be so distant, she knew that if he could he'd hug her, pat her hair down and tell her everything would be all right. But there was a set of metal bars between the two of them, so all he could do was take her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. Cat smiled faintly, but the tears hadn't stopped.

Neither of them spoke for the remainder of Day three.


	15. Day 5

Day 5

Cat couldn't help but think about her home, about the few people that she had left behind. About her life that she would probably never see again. Some would have perked up at the thought of _"Oh! I'll see my dad in heaven, that's a plus!" _but Cat lost her faith when she lost her father. So that wasn't much of an option. All she could do was sit and think about what she had, what she was going through, and what was to come. The Doctor never said much, and Cat guessed he was trying to work out what was going on and how the two of them would get out of it.

"Why do you take us?" Cat asked an hour or so after she woke up, the Doctor glanced at her. "I mean, there isn't any reason to.."

"Well…. I…" The Doctor stared at his hands "The TARDIS is big so I need someone to share it with." He smiled and Cat narrowed her eyes.

"So you get lonely."

"Hey!" he said, not as loudly as he would if he were in the TARDIS, or anywhere where they could die at any moment. "I only take the best!" Cat smiled faintly and returned to thinking, after a minute or so she looked at the Doctor again.

"Then why am I here?" the question shocked the Doctor, and he simply sat there trying to figure out what in god's name Cat meant.

"I…Ju-…Cat…"

"I'm guessing with the others, you met them and then they somehow proved themselves to you, but I didn't. I just wandered into the TARDIS and you decided to take me along with you. I'm not one of the best. So why did you decide to bring me?"

"I… I just…" The Doctor fumbled over his words and Cat shook her head,

"No. It's all fine. Really. I just wanted to know…"

Neither of them spoke for a few days after that.


	16. Days 8 and 15

Day 8

The day was incredibly uneventful, which is why Cat was in no was expecting the Doctor's voice to break into her loop of dark thoughts.

"They're dead"

"What?"

"The Time Lords, all dead…. All but me that is…"

"Oh…" Cat suddenly realized how the Doctor must have felt when she told him about her father. There was no way she could console him, but she still offered her hand as they sat there in silence. The Doctor took it.

Day 15

It was terrible. Every single aspect of the entire place was horrific. From the bad food to the stink to the grime. It was the worst thing any living being could ask for. Cat's face was only clean in streaks leading from her face. And that was only because she cried. The Doctor seemed in no better condition, but he kept his emotions in check. Cat had been thinking about her father for days, about what she couldn't do. Then it happened again, the truth came out.

"I could have stopped the man… I could have killed him…" She took a deep, shaky breath. There was no going back now. "After my dad died I learned how to use a gun, then convinced my mom to buy one… Just to keep in the house, you know? So, this one night I couldn't sleep and I heard glass breaking in the kitchen. I got up and went downstairs, and there he was. The guy that killed my father just standing in my kitchen trying to find something good to steal. I was quick about it at first. I was really close to where my mom had put the gun. So I went and grabbed it. I stood there, in my Pyjamas with a gun pointed at a murderer. But then my mind started working. 'I could go to jail' 'What if his friends come back for me?' I started thinking… I was staring at him and he was staring at me… There was a moment of silence, but then he was running and I shot. Once, maybe twice. It doesn't matter… What matters is that I missed. I missed my chance to have some sort of closure about my dad's death. I hate myself for it. Every day I walk around knowing that I could have somehow made the fact that my father is gone better but I didn't" The silence that falls afterwards terrifies Cat. She doesn't know how the Doctor will react. The not-guns-never-guns Doctor. The Violence-is-the-last-option Doctor. Only when that same Doctor wipes underneath her left eye and whispers "It's okay" does Cat realize that she's crying.


	17. Day 18

Day 18

By Day 18 Cat had grown used to waking up on cold, rock floors, she was used to the darkness that never seemed to leave the prison, and she was used to the lengthy silences that occasionally fell between her and the Doctor. But it caught her slightly off guard to see him like this, he looked angry. Really, _really _angry. It wasn't in the unattended rage type way, where he was about to start yelling if the slightest thing put him off. Instead, it was a quiet anger, the anger of a man who knew how to hold it in. Who had been practicing, the man who had spent so long being jolly the anger was totally hidden. The emotion was hidden.

"Doctor?" Cat whispered, but before she could voice her concerns sounds of yelling came from behind the double doors in which everyone enters and exits. The attention of each prisoner went to the unidentified source and waited for the doors to crash open as they surely would. Pertaining to the room's expectations the doors slammed against the wall, revealing a rather mouse like man fighting his restraints. Attempts leading nowhere, he was dragged to the cell beside the Doctor's. Where, once he settled, he looked at the Doctor in what must have been astonishment.

"Uh….. Yes?" The time lord was fairly confused by the man's persisting gaze. The still unnamed man moved towards the bars separating the time lord and himself, greasy hair flopping forward.

"Doctor!" he said, in a tone of slight aggression, mixed with astonishment and admiration.

"Yes?" The time lord looked no less confused than a moment earlier, but when the man leaned forward a grin spread across the Doctor's face. "Marvelous!" he said, louder than any confession or comfort whispered to Cat at an earlier time. The two men talked for at least an hour before Cat grew impatient enough to butt her head in.

"Doctor?" She asked, reaching an arm through the bars and poking him on the shoulder, "It's been a bit long, what's going on?" The time Lord turned, a coy smile spread across his face. It was something Cat hadn't seen in a while now.

"An old friend is visiting," he turned himself in an angle so Cat could get a better view of the newest inmate. He seemed completely normal, and Cat was utterly confused by the Doctor's shift of attitude. She simply stared at them both until the Doctor almost burst with excitement. "It's a TESELECTA!" His grin grew, as did Cat's confusion.

"A _what?_" The Doctor frowned slightly at her question, and made an exasperated hand movement.

"The TESELECTA is filled with tiny people."

"…..Tiny… People?" Cat narrowed her eyes

"Yes! Tiny people controlling a spaceship that looks like a big person !" Clapping his hands, The Doctor turned back to the man, spaceship, whatever. After a few shared words the Doctor returned his attention to Cat "And they're going to get us out of here."


End file.
